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Debate on the 2016 budget begins Wednesday amid complains about time restrictions

By Myjoyonline.com
Business & Finance Debate on the 2016 budget begins Wednesday amid complains about time restrictions
NOV 25, 2015 LISTEN

Debate on the 2016 budget and economic policy of government will start Wednesday in Parliament.

Majority chief whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak says the leadership and Chairmen of all the committees in Parliament will have 15 minutes whiles other members will have 10 minutes each.

For the moving and seconding of the motion, the Chairman of the Finance Committee and the Ranking member on the finance committee will both speak for 20 minutes each.

However, some members of parliament said the time restriction will not encourage thorough debate on the budget.

Member of Parliament for Bekwai, Joe Osei-Owusu said “this chamber is a chamber of debate and on such an important document as the budget statement, we should move away from limiting the amount of time one person is allotted.

“This is the time to show what it is that is not going well and how incompetently the economy has been managed and if we are going to be able to demonstrate that we are actually wide awake and not asleep, five and ten minutes allocation is not enough”, he added.

However, the Speaker of Parliament, Doe Ajaho says there’s the need for time to be allocated because “there is no Parliament where you can take the whole year debating and debating, there is always a limit. If you allow that then the House will descend into anarchy”.

The Minority MPs during Last Friday’s presentation described the budget as “dead goat budget”.

They flashed sheets of papers with the inscription to register their displeasure on the the budget on the floor.

Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, while seconding a motion moved by the Majority Leader Alban Bagbin to bring Friday’s proceedings to a close said, “in seconding the motion, I just want to observe that the Finance Minister’s presentation was full of perspiration but very little inspiration. A trust-betrayed budget; a dead-goat budget offering no relief to Ghanaians”.

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